By air: Flying to Alghero takes a mere two and a quarter hours from London Stansted with Ryanair which is also usually the cheapest way to get there. Alghero's 'Fertilia' airport, is modern, generally uncrowded and only a leisurely, fifteen-minute taxi ride to the Old Town. Ryanair also fly to Alghero from Barcelona, Bremen, Brussels, Dublin, Dusseldorf, East Midlands, Frankfurt Hahn, Genoa, Liverpool, Madrid, Milan, Oslo, Paris, Pisa, Rome, Stockholm and Venice

By sea: There are a number of ferry services that might get you there but we found the most viable to be that from Genoa. Expecting a tatty ferry, we boarded and found ourselves on the near-equivalent of a luxury cruise liner. In our own well-appointed cabin for a comfortable overnight trip, we arrived at 7.00 am and disembarked at Porto Torres. Alghero is less than an hour's drive from there.

GETTING AROUND

Walking from one side of the Old Town to the other is less than a 10-minute exercise so getting around there is easy. Even the walk to the Lido beach is only about 15 minutes. Taxis are reasonable and plentiful, and there is a good bus service though we’d admit to not having used it yet.

If you book a rental car, the best idea is to book with Hertz via the Ryanair site. It gets you as good a deal as any we’ve experienced, but book in advance for peak periods as all rentals are in short supply at times.

However, our favourite transport by far is the ubiquitous scooter. Fun, cheap and best of all – park it anywhere, except in the Old Town! Go and see Tomaso or Stefano at Cicloexpress at the end of the marina. He also rents bicycles and cars.